Moscow has blamed Ukrainian attacks for the deaths of four people in a village in Russia’s Bryansk region and a huge blaze at a fuel depot in occupied Crimea, as Kyiv insisted that the battle for the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut was still “under control”.
Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Sunday that artillery fire from Ukraine had hit houses in the village of Suzemka, about 10km from the Ukrainian border, killing four people and injuring two others.
In Crimea, which Russia annexed from Kyiv in 2014, Moscow-installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said firefighters had gained control over a major blaze at an oil-storage facility after it was struck by a Ukrainian drone on Saturday.
Kyiv officials generally refuse to confirm or deny Russian claims that Ukrainian forces are responsible for strikes inside Russia or in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
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Andriy Yusov, an official in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, told local media that the explosion in Crimea was “God’s punishment” for Russian crimes, including a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday that killed 23 civilians, including six children.
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“This punishment will be long-lasting. In the near future, it is better for all residents of temporarily occupied Crimea not to be near military facilities and facilities that supply the aggressor’s army,” he added, claiming that the blast destroyed more than 10 tanks with a capacity of about 40,000 tonnes which held oil products used by the Russian navy.
Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said the explosion had caused “a very high degree of anxiety and very broad flows [of Russians] along routes that can be used to leave [Crimea]… Even among servicemen based there, their families are being evacuated.”
Without referring specifically to Saturday’s alleged drone strike, she said Ukraine was getting ready for a major counter-offensive by attacking Russia’s military supply lines: “This work is in preparation for the broad, full-scale attack that everyone is expecting. So the enemy feels that its resources have been undermined and starts to manoeuvre.”
After rescue efforts ended at the Uman apartment block that was destroyed by a Russian cruise missile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said “It is not enough for Ukraine and the world that Russia is weak… It must fully answer for everything it has done.”
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“We will do everything possible to make the terrorist state answer as soon as possible for what it has done… Not only those who give orders but all of you, you are all terrorists and murderers and you must all be punished,” he added.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday that it had destroyed up to 200 tonnes of Ukrainian ammunition in a missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, and that Moscow’s forces were continuing to advance in the devastated city of Bakhmut, 45km to the southeast.
Kyiv insisted, however, that its troops could still use a key route – dubbed the “road of life” – to move personnel, supplies and weaponry in and out of Bakhmut.
“Heavy battles continue, but there is no panic and things aren’t getting out of control,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy.
“The situation is fully controlled by the general staff [of the armed forces], plus we see all of the enemy’s intentions and pre-empt them with [artillery] fire. All this together allows us to keep holding onto Bakhmut.”
